Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness

Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness

Support House Bill 813

House Health & Government Operations

March 10, 2014HB 813 establishes a Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness to take specified actions to ensure that public resources, programs, and policies are coordinated and effective in preventing, mitigating the effects of, and ending homelessness in Maryland.

Pope Francis recently stated his concern for the indifference towards the homeless. “If on a winter's night…someone dies, that is not news. If there are children in so many parts of the world who have nothing to eat, that is not news, it seems normal. It cannot be so! And yet these things enter into normality: that some homeless people should freeze to death on the street — this doesn’t make news. On the contrary, when the stock market drops 10 points in some cities, it constitutes a tragedy. Someone who dies is not news, but lowering income by 10 points is a tragedy! In this way people are thrown aside as if they were trash.” By establishing this committee, Maryland will combat the described indifference towards those in need and continue to seek solutions for their plight.